Token usage is a different and more sympathetic heuristic than LOC produced.

The metric by itself tells you nothing about what value those tokens produced, but to some extent it represents the amount of thinking you are able to offload to the computer for you.

Wide breadth problems seem to scale well with usage, like scanning millions of LOC of code for vulnerabilities, such as the recent claude mythos results.

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HarHarVeryFunny 3 hours ago | parent [-]

The trouble with rewarding token usage is the same as rewarding LOC written/generated - if that's what you are asking for then that is what you will get. Asking the AI to "scan the entire codebase for vulnerabilities" would certainly be a good way to climb the leaderboard!

	▲	WatchDog 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Absolutely, no one should be rewarded for either tokens used or LOC generated. I just think in the absence of any incentives, token usage is a better heuristic as to value produced than LOC generated.